top-notch 的词源

“top notch”这个词最早出现在1840年，意思是“最佳质量，最时尚”，大约在1841年成为流行语。它由形容词top和名词notch组合而成。显然，这个表达是比喻“最高点”，但具体的机械意象并不明确。当时，它还指代某些伞的专利部件。

If a young blade drives his vehicle so as to pass others who are in his party, he is said to "tip them the go by."—If his dress consists of articles which are "all the rage," he is "quite the top notch." It is remarkable that these and similar phrases are most in use among people who claim distinction in the fashionable world. [Boston Weekly Magazine, June 12, 1841]

如果一个年轻人驾驶他的车辆，试图超过同伴，他就被称为“给他们一个‘go by’”。如果他的穿着都是“时下流行”，那么他就是“相当顶尖”。有趣的是，这些短语大多被那些在时尚界自认为独特的人所使用。[《波士顿周刊》，1841年6月12日]

Malgre the dislike of others to an extensive cultivation of cranial shrubbery, I consider long hair an honor unto a man, his glory and his charm. The beauty of the willow is its branches. Deprived of these and all its gracefulness has departed. The tassel of some vegetables is the top notch of their loveliness. ["Long Hair" in Rural Repository (Hudson, N.Y.), July 18, 1840]

尽管他人对头发过长的偏见，我依然认为长发是男人的荣耀与魅力。柳树的美在于它的枝条。失去这些，柳树的优雅也随之消失。一些植物的花絮正是它们美丽的顶尖。[《乡村文摘》（纽约哈德逊），1840年7月18日]